http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-D_2OHGoTY
Unquestionably, this is one of the most f–ked up songs ever recorded. It’s a “cover” of the Trashmen’s legendary trash-rock classic “Surfin’ Bird,” only Wade Curtiss substitutes lyrics about a cat. I have no idea what Curtiss was on when he recorded this. But trust me, it’s something I want to avoid like the ebola virus.
For better or worse, Roger Ebert influenced me more as a film commentator and fan than any other writer. What I liked … and still like … about Ebert was his ability to find merit in many films other critics found disreputable, specifically those that may contain extensive sex and/or violence. Ebert was one of the first major critics to find merit in the films of Russ Meyer at a time when Meyer was reviled as a pornographer by … pretty much everyone. Meyer returned the favor by hiring Ebert to write the script for “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” Meyer’s big-studio X-rated debut film, along with Meyer’s future films “Supervixens” and “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens.”
Despite this, however, Ebert could be uncharacteristically persnickety about certain controversial films that one would think he would embrace. David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” is probably the most notorious of his slams. But his review of the notorious 1978 rape and revenge film “I Spit on Your Grave” is almost equally famous. Not because “I Spit on Your Grave” is a particularly good film. But because Ebert said these things: “Attending it was one of the most depressing experiences of, my life” and also ended his review by saying “At the film’s end I walked out of the theater quickly, feeling unclean, ashamed and depressed.”
A lot of things can influence one’s opinions of a film that have nothing to do with the film … one’s mood on the day they see the film, the venue in which once sees the film, the audience the film is seen with, etc. However, Ebert’s fevered reaction to “I Spit on Your Grave” was particularly memorable … and strange. Mainly because Ebert gave a good review to an equally notorious rape and revenge film of the early 1970s … Wes Craven’s “Last House on the Left.” Ebert made a point of using “Grave” as an example of the “worst of the worst” during his tirade about “slasher films” during the early 1980s.
While “I Spit on Your Grave” is not a great film, it’s not completely without merit. Hearing Joe Bob Briggs’s commentary on the “I Spit on Your Grave” DVD/Blu-Ray is one of the greatest critical counterpoints of all-time. Briggs goes through the film scene by scene … counteracting all accusations that this is a film made from the point of view of the vile male rapists and that the film actually follows lock-step with the arguments of some of the more radical feminist voices of the day (i.e. Andrea Dworkin). It should be pointed out the original title of this film was called “Day of the Woman.”
Look, I’m not about to recommend “I Spit on Your Grave.” Whatever merits the film does have do not balance out the sheer unpleasantness of much of the film. Despite his arguments for the film’s merits, Briggs does point out the many inept decisions director Meir Zarchi makes. “I Spit on Your Grave” is not a good film. But it’s not worthless. And Briggs’s wonderfully insightful … and irreverent … commentary makes this very clear. And it’s one of the best and most entertaining DVD / Blu-Ray commentary tracks of all-time.
For the record, I’m including a link to Ebert’s review here:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/i-spit-on-your-grave-1980
Big news! Dave’s Strange Radio can now be found at a much simpler, easier-to-remember address:
http://www.davesstrangeradio.com
This is where Dave’s Strange Radio can be heard from here on out. You may still be able to access it at the LoudCity address for a little longer, but it will be gone by the end of the month, if not before.
If you’re accessing the station on your phone or mobile device (iOS and Android), you may or may not see a blank pop up window when you bring up the station. If you get this, just delete the blank window.
You can also access Dave’s Strange Radio on your iPhone, iPad, or Roku through the free SHOUTCast app.
I’m still working on getting listed in the iTunes Internet Radio directory again. Because LoudCity will no longer be in business at the end of the month, all of their stations have been removed from iTunes. I don’t have an ETA, but will keep you posted. Despite this, you can still stream the station into iTunes, or your Windows Media Player, Quicktime, or Real Audio player on your computer via the link above.
Also, if you’re listening via your computer, the new pop up player also provides a link to buy or download whatever you’re listening to via Amazon
Please let me know if you have any questions or problems accessing the station.
Thanks again for all the support!
One of the best actors of our generation. Very very sad news.
Picking my favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman scene from a film is difficult since the man positively rocked the screen in every movie he was in. Hoffman specialized in playing characters who were untrustworthy, weak, pathetic, or duplicitous. While he won the Oscar for “Capote” and was brilliant in “The Master, his role as the hospice nurse in “Magnolia” is perhaps his most heroic and the one that I feel is his most underrated. In a film full of characters who are experiencing life at its worst, his efforts to fulfill the dying wish of Jason Robards’s character to reunite with his estranged son are a wonder to behold.
Honorable mention: Hoffman’s portrayal of Lester Bangs in “Almost Famous”. It’s too bad he never got the chance to play him in a feature-length Bangs biopic.
One of my favorite movie podcasts … and so far, the funniest … is “How Did This Get Made?” The podcast is comedians Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael (with the occasional additional commentator) discussing the most ridiculous films ever made. While this is the theme for countless movie podcasts, Scheer, Mantzoukas, and Raphael are actually, really really funny. And … most importantly … they seem to understand what makes certain bad movies better than others. It’s not enough to be schlocky. Being schlocky is easy and in most cases, extremely dull. But trust me when I say that that it takes a certain kind of genius to make a film as astonishing as “Road House,” “Cool as Ice,” or “The Room.” They may not be “good” in the conventional sense. But they’re not boring. These are very special movies that are positively f–king insane!
I listened to many of their episodes today and loved what I heard. But the best of all of them was their dissection of Richard Lester’s 1983 sequel “Superman III” (the one with Richard Pryor). “Superman III” is not the worst of the Superman films (“Superman IV” makes “Superman III” look like “Pulp Fiction”), but it’s still pretty awful. I never thought this film was particularly good or even enjoyably bad until Scheer, Mantzoukas, and Raphael (with guest Damon Lindelof) analyzed this film the way scholars analyze “Citizen Kane,” pointing out wild inconsistencies and just flat-out bizarre plot twists that demonstrate that this is truly a much more bats–t crazy film than I remember. Regardless of whether you agree with their analysis, it’s one of the most hilarious movie reviews I’ve ever experienced … and easily one of the most fun. The language can be a bit rough, so not safe for work or little ones.
Dave's Strange World 